Gormandize: Jamaican Rum Punch

Getting back into exploring the lesser-known cuisines of the world this month with the first featured country for 2015 - and it's Jamaica! I've been keen to get to the culinary delights if the Caribbean, so I'm very excited about this month. Since it's hot as anything here at the moment and I'm dreaming of being on a beach in the Caribbean as we speak, I thought I'd start us off with a cocktail.

A classic Caribbean Rum Punch has a basic formula, which is fun because it leaves you with lots of room to experiment with different flavours and combinations. Here are the basic guidelines:

1 measure Sour

2 measures Sweet

3 measures Strong

4 measures Weak

Quite straightforward and nice and easy to remember. The sour is usually lemon juice or lime juice, the sweet is usually raspberry syrup, grenadine or cherry syrup, the strong is rum (of course!) and the weak is where you can get creative. A lot of people just use water as their weak, which is ok but makes for a pretty weak flavoured punch. You can use juice, especially of tropical fruits. You can use lemonade or ginger beer. Some people use beer. I've used apple cider and it was so delicious, you can also use sparkling apple juice instead.

I've used a standard 30ml cocktail measure for mine, which serves two. If you're making a big bowl of punch, you'll probably want to use cups as your measure

Jamaican Rum Punch

Ingredients
1 measure fresh lime juice
1 measure raspberry syrup
3 measures rum
4 measures apple cider

To Make:
1. Mix all ingredients together. Fill 2 glasses with plenty of ice and distribute punch between them.
2. Garnish frivolously with slices of fruit or superfluous drink umbrellas.
3. Sip & feel all your worries fade away.